Finkbeiner should be judged by the promises he made

If you read the headline of Sunday's Toledo Blade article on out-going mayor Carty Finkbeiner, you'd think that even his critics gave him praise on his terms of office.

After all, that's what the headline says: Finkbeiner's legacy: Even critics admit he made Toledo better.

The problem is, the only 'critic' they found was fellow Democrat Frank Szollosi, who didn't get mentioned until the 35th (yes, 35th!) paragraph. And, even then, gave no praise. The article states in paragraph 34:

Even his critics agree the city is, in some ways, a better place after his 12 years in office - the first eight of which were with Mr. Finkbeiner as Toledo's first modern strong mayor.

But they don't provide the name or quotes of any 'critic' who actually says this.

So is this editorializing? Wishful thinking? An attempt to 'spin' Carty's actions? Or is it bad editing, leaving out details/quotes the reporter included? You can decide on your own, especially in light of the more wide-spread reputation the paper is developing for disguising their opinions as news stories.

What is a more accurate reflection of Carty's term are his original campaign promises. Here are his promises from his campaign website (in italics), saved just for today, along with my comments on whether or not he actually achieved them:

"I will outline our mission and agenda:
Our mission
The Finkbeiner administration will unite and promote, in every way possible, a clean, green, and safe city with vibrant colors everywhere – a city that inspires our citizens to improve our neighborhoods, educate our children and create jobs that offer a future in their hometown.
To accomplish our mission, we will:
1. Work with the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, Medical University of Ohio and Owens Community College to develop a “technology corridor,” creating the jobs of the future.

* FAIL - Carty's administration did 'work' with these entities but there is no technology corridor as of his last day in office. These institutions of higher learning are working together more effectively without the mayor.

2. Develop the marina-housingrestaurant-entertainment project on the east side of the river that voters approved in September, 2001. The Marina District project will act as a complement to The Docks, which we built in 1995.

* FAIL: While the taxpayers did fund a road and street lights and some basic infrastructure, there is no vertical development and no private funding available for the housing/restaurant/entertainment portion of the Marina District. In fact, after 9 years, there is no one capable of putting forth the private sector support needed to actually bring this plan to fruition. While Larry Dillin still hopes to have some financing for his part of the contract, we haven't seen it yet. One has to wonder if all the efforts and expenditures of employee time and tax dollars have been worth what we have to show today: a road to nowehere with really nice street lamps...and that's about it.

3. Seek private-sector developers to build a new sports arena in the city.

* MASSIVE FAIL: The city gave up the arena to the County and there was no effort by the County Commissioners to find a private developer for the new sports arena. In fact, every suggestion I made toward that end was soundly rejected by my two fellow commissioners at the time, Pete Gerken and Tina Skeldon Wozniak. They didn't want a privately-run arena. They wanted one owned by the County, despite the fact that they/we had no money for such a project. In the end, the total cost of the new arena project was over $105 million, despite a budget estimate of around $80 million ... and identified funding on only $80 million. Of course, there still is no 'name' to the arena and no estimated $14 million in naming rights income, not to mention the other revenue sources that haven't panned out. But never mind the financial facts, isn't it pretty????

4. Meet with the ownership of Southwyck Mall to forge a compact leading to a revitalized mall in 365 days.

* MASSIVE FAIL: After realizing what just about everyone else already knew, that the owners of Southwyck had no interest in revitalizing the mall, Carty embarked upon a plan to take over the property so he could have his way. That, too, failed, and all we have now is an empty space following the demolition of the mall buildings.

5. Meet with the ownership and property owners in the Westgate-Cricket West district to define the future redevelopment of this area.

* I cannot rate this promise as I do not know if Carty actually met with any of the owners of the properties in this area. What I do know of his actions regarding the planned redevelopment of Westgate would give him a FAIL rating. He, along with Gerken and Wozniak, aggressively fought the plans of the property owner to revitalize the private property with new stores and options for consumers. Together, these three politicians almost cost us the new Costco that went up. Fortunately, between the plan commission and then District 5 Representative Ellen Grachek, their efforts to derail the project failed.

6. Nurture small-business development, and establish a 25-person business advisory council, consisting of our best and brightest small-business leaders, to advise the administration on how it can help business develop in our region and eliminate government obstacles. This advisory council will review council legislation passed during the last 25 years, and we will rescind any laws that have hampered job creation.

* FAIL: While Carty did create this council, he didn't allow it to do anything. In fact, one of the first acts Carty embarked upon was the takeover of the ambulance services for basic life support transport from the small, private companies. His business advisory council asked him to postpone the effort until they had a chance to review the plan, but Carty said no. About a year after the establishment of the council, I contacted several individuals the city said were serving as part of the group. Two of them didn't even know they'd be named to the council and two said they'd only received notice of two meetings. Oh - and just to solidify my 'fail' rating, City Council did not rescind any laws relating to 'job creation.'

7. Work with Ann Arbor and Detroit public and private leaders to create an automotive R&D corridor linking our cities. The purpose – job creation.

* FAIL: There is no automotive R&D corridor linking these cities and, with the financial mess the Detroit automakers find themselves in, I doubt they had time to even consider such a plan.

8. Fill the vacancies and voids in the Central Business District with new entrepreneurs and businesses, using tax breaks and incentives..

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: There are some new businesses in the downtown area, but not enough ... and I doubt it is enough to overcome the ones that left, or to replace the employees who were laid off or whose positions were eliminated.

9. Encourage and promote a regional government to include, city, county and suburban governments all under one roof, in as many ways as possible.

* FAIL: I think Carty forgot about this one since he hasn't talked about a regional government since his first year in office. However, his failure on this is a good thing, from my perspective, because I'm opposed to a regional government as described by the Democrats in this town.

10. Establish a grass-roots neighborhood program, in which every neighborhood has representation in City Hall and will be involved in decisions impacting them. This will be modeled after the Dayton program.

* FAIL: I don't think this even got to the planning stages.

11. Develop a “neighborhood pride” program to encourage home ownership, civic pride and urban beautification. This program will include neighborhood competition to honor outstanding efforts to improve properties.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: Carty did establish a 'neighborhood pride' and beautification program. He used various federal programs to encourage home ownership. Of course, we don't know how many of those individuals in new homes were part of the massive foreclosure problem as a result. And while he had a program, this gets a 'partial' rating because there is no evidence the program achieved the stated goals - or that it will remain once Carty is out of office.

12. Restore the urban beautification program on main streets and in city parks while expanding these efforts into neighborhoods. We will raise $250,000 annually from the private sector to accomplish this.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: Carty did endeavor to restore the urban beautification program and received a ton of criticism for making this a priority (with limited budget dollars) over such essentials as police and roads. As for the promise to raise $250,000 annually from the private sector? That was a MASSIVE FAIL. I don't think he got to that much total for the entire term.

13. Revitalize the urban-blight program, and return the demolition program for blighted housing to 300 demolitions annually.

* SUCCESS: I believe he did his target goal of 300 demolitions annually.

14. Commit to hiring more police officers, so Toledo will no longer have the fewest police per 1,000 residents of any major city in Ohio.

* MASSIVE FAIL: He actually laid off police officers.

15. Will actively and personally work to restore the Erie Street Market as a centerpiece of downtown revitalization.

* FAIL: Oh, he worked at it - to no avail. The place is a money pit and still isn't breaking even, costing taxpayers and creating a continual drain on general fund dollars while we go without roads and police.

16. Implement a city Gateway project that will utilize the resources of the city as well as the private sector to improve the appearance of the main entrances to the city.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: He did work to spruce up some of the entrances, but ignored other ones. My impression that his idea of 'entrance' was an entrance to the central core of the downtown area, not the major entrances into the city proper.

17. Increase emphasis on repairing potholes more swiftly and permanently.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: He may have had an increased emphasis, but if it he did, it wasn't enough.

18. Commit to prioritize city Capital Improvement dollars to resurface city streets, with a target of 40 miles per year.

* SUCCESS: He made the resurfacing a priority in the CIP budget and did achieve his targeted 40 miles.

19. Commit to return every phone call to citizens within 24 business hours, and respond to specific concerns within 7 business days.

* FAIL: From my personal experience, I know that he did not return every phone call within 24 business hours and I waited much longer than 7 business days for some 'specific concerns' I raised. This was a either a bad promise to make or one that sounded good in the heat of a campaign because he did not put the effort forth to ensure he would keep it.

20. Establish monthly “Meet the Mayor” nights that will rotate locations throughout the city.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: He did get off to a good start with this, but as the meetings got contentious, he stopped having them.

21. Establish a City Hall mentoring program that will pair city officials with young people seeking such guidance.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: He did start this, but who knows what happened with it or how successful it was.

22. Establish privately funded, summer youth-development programs in city parks.

* FAIL: Never happened.

23. Develop a summer-job program for high school students, working with the Chamber of Commerce.
24. Seek commitments from our local companies to hire college students as “interns” during the summer months.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: These two went together. I believe there was some type of program begun, with commitments from a few businesses, but it did not continue.

25. Develop job training and retraining programs for the unemployed and underemployed while working with corporations, labor unions and our universities.

* FAIL: The city did not do this, though The Source, the county/Workforce Investment Board (federal mandated program) one-stop shop, does have such programs in place and operating on a continual basis. Carty never should have made such a promise because the federally-mandated program was already in place. He should have just promised to support those efforts and be part of a 'regional' approach to job training.

26. Work with public and private school leaders to assure that new and/or improved academic campuses become the stimulus that creates family oriented neighborhood living opportunities around the academic setting.

* SUCCESS: Carty did work with the existing New Schools New Neighborhoods program which focuses on creating a core of services/opportunities in and around the new schools that are being built.

27. Encourage adaptive reuse of vacated school properties into neighborhood community centers.

* PARTIAL SUCCESS: He may have 'encouraged' this, but there was no success in achieving it.

28. Monitor the levy requests of TPS to assess that the taxpayer is getting his money’s worth from their product.

* FAIL: If he 'monitored' this, he never shared his analysis with the taxpayers so we would know if we were getting our money's worth. Of course, perhaps his failure in this is a good thing, because it's not the job of the mayor to perform this task.

29. Work with county officials, local civic leaders and regional organizations to seek ways to share resources, reduce costs and improve economic conditions in Northwest Ohio to the benefit of all.

* FAIL: The only 'sharing' Carty wanted was for the other organizations and municipalities to 'share' their income taxes with Toledo. Despite opportunities to improve economic conditions to the benefit of all, Carty was interested only in the benefits to the City of Toledo. He even tried to steal Bass Pro from a neighboring jurisdiction because he wanted it in Toledo and not just in Northwest Ohio.

30. Pursue further discussions on establishing a regional water/sewer authority to serve our area while ensuring Toledo residents a reasonable return on their infrastructure investments.

* FAIL: This went nowhere.

31. Will appoint a health and fitness honorary chairperson to promote a “healthier lifestyle” in Toledo.

* I have no idea if he appointed an 'honorary chairperson' or not. Obviously, the effort didn't garner much attention and Toledoans ignored it, if it existed.

32. Establish a courageous and boldcommittee to define how utility rates can be reduced in Northwest Ohio.

* BOLD FAIL: (sorry, couldn't resist)

33. Restore the minority health commission to improve the life expectancy and general health of those impacted.

* Another one I couldn't find information on. If he did restore the health commission, it worked without publicity and unknown impact. But again, this isn't the role of the mayor.

34. Seek “loaned leaders” from the business and union sectors to seek ways to reduce city costs and implement modern systems to promote increased productivity.

* FAIL: City costs were reduced through furloughs, layoffs and the elimination of funding for certain city departments - not because of suggestions made by 'loaned leaders' but because of the economy and the declining tax revenues of the city. I'm certain that 'loaned leaders' would have found even more ways to reduce the costs of government if convened and allowed to actually made and implement recommendations.

Conclusion
Toledo needs a leader who not only hears, but listens to, the voices echoing throughout the city. Toledo needs a leader who not only sees problems of joblessness and lost vision, but sees solutions involving the creation of jobs and growth. Toledo needs a leader who will awaken this city to the great dreams that helped turn this once-stagnant swamp into a jewel set along both shores of the Maumee River. And Toledo needs a pro-jobs, progrowth, pro-Toledo citizenry. It is a time for citizen/heroes. It is a time for each and every Toledoan to take up the cause of building a better, stronger Toledo. With every Toledoan’s help in this endeavor, I seek to be your Mayor – your leader."

So we come up with 19 promises NOT kept, 9 that were only partially kept and many of those without success in achieving an outcome, 3 promises kept and 2 unknown.

That's not good in terms of grades - in fact, eliminating the two unknowns, his partial success and success rate is only 37.5% ... about a third of the promises he made he actually kept in some way or another.

And this doesn't even get into the huge budget deficit he leaves, the zero balance in the city's rainy day fund, or the increased taxes we're all paying thanks to his 'leadership.'

But judging him by what he said he was going to do is much better than trying to spin his term and claim that unidentified critics say he made Toledo better.

What 'duties' did Szollosi and Collins duck?

The Toledo Blade has an editorial blasting councilmen Frank Szollosi and D. Michael Collins for their decision to leave city council's meeting Tuesday rather than vote on a tax increase, giving Mayor Carty Finkbeiner a tie vote to break ... which would have resulted in said tax increase (even though they're calling it a 'fee' for trash service).

While it is a fact that these two men 'ducked' a vote, they were not, as the editorial claims, ducking their duties.

To understand this, you must first know what the duties of council are. The editors of the paper obviously believe council has more of duty to spending and making sure the city doesn't curtail it, but rather increases taxes so it can continue ... than council has to their constituents.

I, however, believe that council's duty is to us, the taxpayers and citizens of Toledo. We have spoken loudly and clearly enough that at least half of council understands that obligation and was willing to vote against a tax increase, especially in these difficult economic times.

If the only way that Collins and Szollosi could fulfill their duty to the TAXPAYERS was to walk out and, therefore, prevent a tie vote that would have resulted in a tax increase, then kudos to them for using this procedure to protect our wallets!

Their 'higher' duty is to represent their constituents, not to perpetuate a bloated, bureaucratic, overspending Toledo government that doesn't understand how to truly live within their means - or, rather, OUR means.

I don't, for a minute, believe that these two members of council don't want to balance the budget, as the editorial claims. They do want a balanced budget - they just want to do it via means other than additional taxation. And they should be praised for this approach, rather than vilified by The Blade and the mayor for not allowing a tax increase to go through.

I'm not sure, but has The Blade ever met a tax increase, fee increase, or property levy it didn't like? Would their record show they consistently support increasing the costs, scope and size of government, to the detriment of those of us who pay the bills? Could their past and current positions on such matters be part of the problem for why people flee this area for lower-cost/better-service jurisdictions and why politicians believe they'll have 'cover' for lack of fiscal prudence?

Toledoans know, despite what the editors want them to believe, that Collins' and Szollosi's action in preventing this vote was more in line with their best interests than allowing the city to increase taxes would have been. And they'll remember the positions all members of council took when it comes to decisions on election day.

Thank you, Frank Szollosi

Last night, Toledo City Council was scheduled to vote - again - on an increase in the trash tax.

Rather than have a 6-6 tie with Mayor Carty Finkbeiner to break the vote (and he would have supported the tax increase as a way to help balance the budget), Councilman Frank Szollosi walked out. In doing so, he drew the ire of Council President Joe McNamara, who supports the tax. According to WTOL,

McNamara would not be moved, saying, "Members of council are elected to come to meetings and vote. And that's the basic bare requirement of our job and so it's disappointing that anyone would duck a vote."

I don't believe Szollosi was ducking a vote, but taking advantage of the only option left to him to prevent a tax increase.

According to 13ABC:

"If I can stop a tax increase from making life more difficult for thousands of Toledo families by stepping out, I'm going to do it," says Szollosi.

But if you'll remember, the last time this was voted upon, it was defeated 5-6 and Szollosi was going to vote no. The numbers don't add up. So what happened?

According to The Blade,

On Sept. 1, council voted down the trash fee increase, with five in favor and six against. Voting in favor of the trash fee increase and rewards program were Mr. McNamara, Wilma Brown, Phillip Copeland, George Sarantou, and Steven Steel.

Voting against were Mr. (D. Michael) Collins, Tom Waniewski, Lindsay Webb, Michael Ashford, Mike Craig, and Betty Shultz.

So if everyone had voted the same way, and Szollosi voted no, it would have be 5 in favor and 7 against.

The paper reports:

Mrs. Brown said last night she intended to change her vote to yes, which would have made the split six in favor of the increase and six opposed.

Mrs. Shultz said she did not think through the increase when it came up for a vote four weeks ago and also that she did not want to leave a legacy that included a "bankrupt city."

I believe the paper has mis-identified the person who was going to change their vote - reporting it was Wilman Brown when they meant Betty Shultz. (This was corrected after my blog post.)

And I find it inconceivable that Betty was going to change her vote, especially because the city would still be bankrupt in 2009, even if this tax increase had been approved.

As Frank explained: "There are so many people hurting in this city, the last thing they need is for the city and the mayor to reach into their pockets more when we have failed to live within our means."

The best part of the actions last night was reported by 13ABC:

13abc's Christine Long: "Any idea when it will come back?"

McNamara: "No. I think it's probably done this year, unless council members change their minds, I think the trash fee change is dead."

So thank you to the council members who remained steadfast in their opposition to tax increases: D Michael Collins, Tom Waniewski, Lindsay Webb, Michael Ashford, and Mike Craig.

And thank you to Frank Szollosi who used every means possible to prevent this unprecedented tax increase.

Does ESM's Civic Theater violate the Toledo Charter?

Here's the language of Section 79 of the City Charter:

Section 79. Compulsory referendum of certain measures - franchises.
No ordinance or resolution for a public improvement requiring or authorizing the expenditure of more than fifteen percent (15%) of the average gross annual current operating expenditures by the City for the five (5) fiscal years immediately preceding, or for the granting of a general public utility franchise, shall be effective until the same shall be approved by a majority vote of the electors voting thereon; provided, however, no convention center, exhibit hall, sports arena, or municipal theater, other than a sports arena located in the City's Marina District, being the area bounded by the Maumee River, Interstate Highway 280, Front Street and Main Street, shall be constructed, acquired, or leased unless the ordinance or resolution authorizing construction bidding, acquisition, or leasing shall have been approved by a majority vote of the electors voting thereon, whether or not such ordinance or resolution requires or authorizes the expenditure of more or less than fifteen percent (15%) of the average gross annual current operating expenditures by the City for the five (5) fiscal years immediately preceding. A general public utility is one in which all the people of the City may have an interest.

(Amended by electors 9-11-01)

Note the provision that "no convention center, exhibit hall, sports arena, or municipal theater, ... shall be constructed, acquired, or leased unless the ordinance or resolution authorizing construction bidding, acquisition, or leasing shall have been approved by a majority vote of the electors voting thereon..."

I've requested the details of the city's arrangement with Rob Croak for the new Civic Theater in order to see if the space is being 'leased' or 'rented.' Regardless, there is a question of the construction that has taken place to turn the Erie Street Market's Bay 4 into a 'theater.' It's been the location of the various stalls of individual vendors - food and retail outlets in the past and, more recently, the antique vendors.

Councilman Frank Szollosi has asked for a legal opinion about this issue - and I'm very glad he has. Other council members should join him by supporting his request. And the answer should be made public so we can see if we have a law department that is going to fairly and objectively interpret the law - or protect the mayor.

Deed requiring union work forever at Marina District is pulled

Councilman Frank Szollosi has pulled his ordinance that would have instituted a deed restriction at the Marine District project requiring only union workers for anything - forever.

According to today's paper, Szollosi says the ordinance is no longer needed.

"Mr. Szollosi said he is removing the proposed ordinance because of commitments Mr. Dillin made to local union labor. Mr. Dillin last night declined to detail those discussions."

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and Marine District developer Larry Dillin both said the requirement would kill the project.

So now the only question remains is this: Was Szollosi just using the power of his office to force concessions with the developer by introducing this piece of legislation?

The circumstances are highly suspect. Local councilman with strong support from local unions introduces a deal-breaker ordinance setting out a deed restriction that would require only union labor for any and all work - forever; local developer, who's already invested heavily in the project, meets with entities and makes 'commitments' to local unions; councilman withdraws ordinance.

I think there's a name for this type of 'coercion.' No wonder businesses are leaving the area.

Not 'business friendly' - Post #12: deeds requiring union workers forever

Councilman Frank Szollosi introduced an ordinance at last night's city council meeting that would require all work done at the Marina District to be performed by union workers - FOREVER. And to ensure the union labor, he formulated it into a restrictive covenant on the deed to transfer the property so that it applies to Larry Dillin, the developer, and all successors, heirs and assigns.

Here's the actual language:

ORD. 376-08

Authorizing and directing the Mayor to add a Restrictive Covenant to the deed conveying City owned property concerning the Marina District project to Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc. requiring the use of unionized workforce for any and all construction and development on this property forever by Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc. and any successors; and declaring an emergency.

SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
Ord. 307-08, passed by City Council on May 20, 2008, authorizes the City to convey title to its property in the area along the Maumee River between Marina Drive and Main Street to Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc. to be improved in accordance with the Master Plan. The Marina District project will have a beneficial effect on the economy of the City of Toledo in terms of jobs, investment, revitalization of a former brownfield and other positive effects.

City Council desires to add a Restrictive Covenant to the deed requiring Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc. and any successors to use unionized workforce for any and all construction and development on this property forever. NOW, THEREFORE,

Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:

SECTION 1. That the Mayor is hereby authorized and directed to add a Restrictive Covenant to the deed conveying City owned property to Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc. for the revitalization of the area along the Maumee River between Marina Drive and Main Street with respect to the development of the Marina District project.

SECTION 2. That the Restrictive Covenant shall require Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc. to promise to use unionized workforce for any and all construction, reconstruction, enlargement, alteration, renovation, or development of or on all or any part of the land covered by this deed. This Restrictive Covenant shall apply to Dillin Riverfront Properties, Inc., heirs, successors, and assigns forever.

As we discussed on Eye On Toledo last night, (podcast of June 16 show), only 15% of Ohio's 2007 wage and salary workers are represented by a union, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even if - and it's a big if - Toledo has triple the state numbers, union workers are less than half of the workers in the city. When you deduct all the public employees who are unionized, I'm certain that the union workers in Toledo are a small minority of the Toledo workforce.

If Councilman Szollosi really wants to "protect the local workforce," as he stated during the meeting, he'd be as interested in protecting ALL workers and not just a small number of them.

Larry Dillin is ready to start construction on the Marina District and this requirement comes way past the 'last minute.' Dillin says it will kill the project - and he is someone who has used, and continues to use, local union labor on his projects. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner says that same thing. And they're right.

Are our elected officials so stuck on stupid that they will finally be able to kill a project that has taken years to actually come to fruition? Can they not stand the thought of actually being successful with something that they must come up with a deal-breaker just before the construction actually begins? Are they that self-destructive or afraid of success that they do not realize the seriously negative impact this will have?

Oh - and according to the Clerk of Council, Council has never passed a deed restriction like this one, so it will be a first, if approved.

But it doesn't just impact the Marina District. It sends a very strong negative message to all businesses in the area - and to those that might be considering starting or re-locating a business here. During my search yesterday for the numbers of union workers in Toledo, I had a discussion with several economic development officials. All of them said that the issue of unions is one of the top five issues business representatives ask about this area. We have a reputation for being a 'strong union town' and many business owners have a concern that they will be targeted for unionization if they come here. Legislation and laws like this one just reinforce that image and drive job providers away.

This ordinance had its first reading last night. It was not referred to committee. It will be on the next council meeting agenda for either a second reading and/or vote.

Call City Council and tell them this is a terrible idea and shouldn't get their support: 419-245-1050.

Fallout over decision on Marines continues

On Friday, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner told Marines, who'd made arrangements to train in the downtown area, that he didn't want them in the central business district of the city over the weekend.

Immediately, the criticisms began - and for good reason.

The Mayor claims to have found out about the urban training exercises on Friday morning. However, he waited until the late afternoon - after the advance team arrived and shortly before the five-bus convoy of 200 members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines got to Toledo - to tell the Company of his decision to cancel the exercises.

According to today's Blade, Finkbeiner refused to meet with the Major in charge of the Company.

"Brian Schwartz, spokesman for Mr. Finkbeiner, acknowledged that Major (Jeff) Brooks asked to see the mayor Friday, soon after the battalion was ordered to leave, but was denied a meeting.

"The mayor was in another meeting," Mr. Schwartz said."

Unbelievable! After sending police to block the streets so the Marines couldn't come into the training area, he then refuses to meet with the Major over the decision.

The Mayor could have met and tried to find another way for the Company to complete their scheduled training, especially in light of his public statements that he wasn't opposed to the Marines, but to the training location they'd selected.

But to find out now that the mayor refused to meet with Major Brooks on Friday afternoon calls into question all his statements since then.

As for Carty's claim that Friday afternoon was not a good time for this exercise with 10,000 - 14,000 men and women leaving from work, well...that doesn't pass the smell test either. It's true that about that many people would be exiting downtown on their way home from work, but the Marines would not have been firing weapons by that time. They were to arrive in Toledo between 4-6 p.m. and would have unloaded themselves and their gear, gotten set up in the building and would not have been actively training on the streets until later.

Besides, simple signs posted around the downtown area would have alleviated any possible questions about the activities ... if anyone had somehow missed all the news reports announcing the event. And by the time the Marines actually made it out onto the streets, the downtown would have been nearly empty - as it is most weekends.

Sadly for Toledo, the news of this decision has reached across the country. In today's world of instant communication and blogs, word has spread and the negative comments range from 'shame on the mayor' to 'boycott Jeeps and Libbey Glass' to 'cut off all of Toledo's federal funding.'

I hope people realize this is an action of the Mayor that is not supported by most Toledoans - and I believe they do. But often, the only way to get an elected official's attention is to hit the pocketbook - and since many of the outraged individuals don't get to vote in Toledo, they're going to show their anger in other ways.

Carty should have allowed the training to continue. Even with the miscommunication within his staff, the best thing would have been to post signs and allow the exercises to go on as planned. Carty could have addressed the communication problem internally and then go on from there. But he didn't ... and now he's digging in and defending his decision.

Carty is always one to brag about Toledo. He thinks that awards and recognitions like LivCom, most un-wired city, 'city of the future' and others will gain positive national attention for us. But he fails to understand that stupid decisions like this one - and the way he handled implementation of the stupid decision - are much more publicized and far outweigh any positives anyone has heard about us.

As it stands, Carty said he apologized to the Marines for the miscommunication. However, any apology needs to be for his decision to send them out of Toledo in the first place - in addition to the miscommunication that led to the internal confusion - and it needs to be in a press conference with, hopefully, as much attention as the decision got in the first place.

Then, he needs to offer to pay the $10,000 cost of the aborted exercise out of his own pocket. With the reputation of the Marines, I doubt they'd accept his money, but he should make the offer anyway.

Through all of this, I'm glad Toledoans have the good sense our mayor is lacking - and are speaking out against this stupidness. Several members of Toledo City Council have expressed their dismay, as has State Senator Theresa Fedor, a veteran herself. But more elected officials need to so, and we need to take note of their positions. Councilman Frank Szollosi has a resolution to present at Tuesday's city council meeting if an apology from the Mayor is not forthcoming. While I don't believe Toledo City Council needs to issue the apology, their willingness to express the sentiments of the city is appreciated.

However, as Carty said over the weekend, he's done talking about this. So I hope Council - and the nation - doesn't hold its collective breath. But despite his hope that refusal to talk about it will make it go away, it won't. This isn't something people will easily forget because it has to do with our Marines and our affection, gratitude and respect for our nation's military members.

Something else that deserves mention is the way the Marines handled the request to leave Toledo. I'm so very proud of their reaction and the dignity and class they showed. After being told to leave Toledo, Major Jeffrey O'Neill said, "But we're Marines. We'll adapt and overcome." Ooh - Rah!

Toledo's 2008 budget - and blogging

Wanted to share with you a new website hosted by Toledo City Councilman Frank Szollosi: Toledo Budget '08.

I've already send Frank an email thanking him for posting this ... please make sure you take advantage of this opportunity to view and comment on next year's budget!

Up is down in Toledo when it comes to eminent domain

Yes, up is down, black is white, and I find myself agreeing with Democrats on Toledo city council while wondering what's happened to the Republicans.

The issue? Eminent Domain for Southwyck Mall. (For complete background, read this, this and this.)

If you're not familiar with Toledo politicians - or even if you are - you might be surprised to learn who said the following:

"...eminent domain is a tool the City of Toledo can use to get Bill Dillard and Buddy Hering, who own parcels at Southwyck, to complete the deal with Larry Dillin, president of Dillin Corporation."- Toledo Free Press

or this:

“They [the owners of Southwyck] have a history of not cooperating and running Southwyck Mall into the ground. Those uncooperative owners are the reason we have to look at eminent domain. We can't let them hold us hostage.” - Toledo Free Press

or this:

"It really bothers me that we can't get a national company to be a responsible corporate citizen, and I think we need to take bold action." - Toledo Blade

Anyone familiar with the traditional stances of the two parties would probably guess these quotes came from the Democrats...but they didn't. The first quote is from Republican Rob Ludeman, District 2 representative. The other two quotes are from Republican George Sarantou, at-large member of council.

And the Democrats? They said this:

"Council President Michael Ashford questioned whether the administration has the legal justification for eminent domain, given recent rulings by the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Court on the use of eminent domain for economic development." - Toledo Blade

and this:

"Councilman Frank Szolosi said he has “a fundamental opposition to the city's use of eminent domain.”" - Toledo Free Press

Further, our Republicans are strangely silent about the revelation that the supposed 'public use' to justify eminent domain was never part of the plan for Southwyck - and, contrary to what the mayor said, was NOT requested by Larry Dillin, the proposed developer of the property. The city has decided a road right through the middle of the property is 'needed.' (Posts linked above show the planned road and the original - and still current - site plan presented by Dillin.)

According to this Blade article, "Mr. Finkbeiner said the road fits with the Village at Southwyck concept proposed by developer Larry Dillin.

“[Mr. Dillin] feels that it’s very important that that mall be broken up, that there be a connecting road running north and south, to link the beltway road,” the mayor said, referring to Southwyck Boulevard."

But this is directly contradicted by the developer, according to the Free Press article:

"“We feel very strongly about our plans to rejuvenate the Southwyck property and want to move forward with them,” said Bill Thomas, director of real estate services for Dillin Corp.
...
Thomas said the Dillin firm had nothing to do with the city's latest plans for a connecting road through the Southwyck property. If the city has plans that show a connecting road, “We were not involved in them,” he said."

So the mayor lied about the need for a road, the Republicans are supporting eminent domain because they don't like what a property owner is doing - legally - with their private property, and the Democrats are the ones asking questions about the legality and the costs.

Truly, up is down in Toledo.



BONUS ISSUE: The comment by Sarantou about being a "responsible corporate citizen," ties in with this quote, also from the Blade article:

"Dave Lemon, the volunteer leader of a citizens' organization in the Southwyck area, said Mr. Dillard shows no corporate responsibility for the area surrounding the mall, and is "stubbornly refusing" to sell a mall that he is neglecting."

Perhaps we're getting to the underlying message here? That you're only welcome in our community if your use of your private property corresponds to our determination of being 'socially responsible.' But that's another post for another time...

The 'rest of the story'...

Today's Blade has the 'behind the scenes' story of the change in council president and, as I said yesterday, it's all about politics - and not the city of Toledo.

According to the reporting today, Democrat Party State Chairman Chris Redfern did, indeed, meet with the Dems on council prior to their vote and

"emphasized that he and the governor wanted a strong Lucas County Democratic Party in place for the 2008 presidential election."

Strong - as in, in control in both numbers and appearance. So certainly, they can't have a Republican president of council when they hold a majority in that body - how could they explain that awkward situation to presidential campaigns?!?

And the paper also verifies that this is all about the appearance of unity.

“By having a working majority and opening up the lines of communication, we’ll decrease the amount of public disagreements that we have,” Mr. Ashford said.

There's that term, again...'working majority'...because now, since we're trying to give the appearance of unity, we're not going to disagree in public anymore...after all - there's too much at stake in 2008 for us to have public disagreements.

All sarcasm aside, what they're really saying is that they're still going to disagree, but because word has come down from 'on high' (or rather from south of here) we're going to look like we're all working together because our party's interests far outweigh the public's interests in this regard.

Personally, I like the public discourse. I've truly appreciated Frank Szollosi's (and his colleague's) position on the garbage tax that Carty and the Republicans supported. With this new "unity" I can't help but wonder if such policy disagreements will now be hidden behind closed doors until some deal is worked out and presented to the public. That would be very bad for Toledo, Toledoans and taxpayers - but it sure will be better for the Democrat Party, locally and statewide.

It's sad that the priorities of the political party have taken precedence, but living in Toledo, that's what we've come to expect. And the result of such misplaced priorities are all around us - declining population, loss of businesses, budget deficits - all because it's more important to do what the party wants than what the people want.

The story behind the story...

Today's Blade has the story of the change in Toledo City Council president from Republican Rob Ludeman to Democrat Michael Ashford. But here's the story behind the story....

Ludeman was elected president with the support of the Republicans and a couple of B-Team Democrats, as well as the support of Democrat Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. The A-Team/B-Team split in the Democrat Party has deep roots and is the source of much embarrassment to the local and state parties. The fact that the two teams couldn't come together to elect a president of council when they hold the majority became a major sticking point and a further indication of the extent of their differences.

"The 7-4 vote came after almost two weeks of public jockeying for the job among Democrats who were embarrassed that Democrats held an 8-4 majority, but that a Republican ran the agenda and appointed the committee chairmen."

Yes, embarrassment was the reason for the change - not that Rob was doing a poor job in the role. But the political need for a Dem president far outweighed the actual skills and performance of the person in the position.

"He (Ashford) said it made sense for council's majority party to be a "working majority," and that he would work with Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.

"My job is to work with the mayor to make the mayor successful on all his initiatives. At the same time, my job is to serve as a voice for the citizens," he said."

The Dems already had a working majority - they just couldn't get themselves to work toward the same goal...and the stickler was the A-Teamers (Ashford included) who routinely opposed the B-Teamer mayor. Some might say that this was because there were no Republicans to oppose - but that's another story for another day.

And now, those who've positioned themselves against the mayor now say that their job is to 'make the mayor successful on all his initiatives'???? They could have done this without the presidency of council, as Ludeman was actually doing a better job in this role than Ashford and his A-Team colleagues. But now all is rosy...

""To replace him for no reason whatsoever, with but four months left in his term, underscores the pettiness, bitter partisanship, and ongoing political gamesmanship of this council," the mayor said."

Yes, the mayor gets it right...this was more about partisanship and political power than it was about any policy or public need.

"The change in leadership will give the A-team Democrats more power to make a difference in city policy, said Mr. (Frank) Szollosi, who led the effort to overturn the GOP leadership.

"We wanted to move into a period of greater cooperation and respect," Mr. Szollosi said."

Now, how 'having the presidency' will move them toward greater cooperation and respect is beyond me - especially considering than the leading spokesman against that mayor has been Szollosi, sometimes rightly so.

Szollosi opposed certain taxes and spending, gaining much support from both Republican and Democrat voters. But he never missed an opportunity to slam the mayor and others opposed to his own positions. If there was a true interest in moving toward greater cooperation and respect, it certainly didn't take a change in the council president to do so. This 'excuse' is a smokescreen for the real reason - that it embarrassed the Dems locally and state-wide for them to have a majority on council with a Republican as president.

Considering the past disagreements between the A/B teams, I'm sure some of the seven who voted for Ashford had to be persuaded. Lisa Renee at Glass City Jungle (who reported the story before the local media outlets - congrats!) wrote that State Party Chairman Chris Redfern met with the Dems yesterday morning before their council meeting. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in that room!

But that raises all kinds of questions - like why a state party chairman is meddling in our local city council presidency in the first place. Especially when it's extremely obvious that this vote to elect Ashford was more about Democrat Party unity (or the appearance of such) than it was about what is good for the city...and even more so when you remember that city council is a non-partisan office and race!

But, image is more important than substance these days. And the story behind the story is that now the Dems can brag that they've 'defeated' the Republicans and are 'standing together.' However, as I've said in the past, those A-Team/B-Team wounds are very deep and not likely to be healed by a thinly-veiled show of unity.

The sad part is that even Ashford, in his morning interview on WSPD, couldn't give a valid reason for why this change needed to take place. He tried to make the point that it was about 'policy' but his meager response to the question only demonstrated that the real reason is politics - he just couldn't say it honestly without looking even more foolish than he - and his cohorts - already look.

And that's the story behind the story...

More struggles with Toledo's budget

Want to know why the City of Toledo yearly faces budget deficits? It's because of decisions like these:

"Part of the reason for the increased 2007 budget is to pay for a 2 percent city employee pay raise that took effect Jan. 1, and to pick up an additional 2.25-percentage point share of police officer and firefighter pension contributions.

In 2008, city employees are to get a 3 percent pay raise, and police and firefighters would get an additional 1.5 percent pension pickup."

This is from today's Blade article which relates the latest proposal to deal with our city's budget. And while I realize the economy is booming in just about every place BUT here, I have to question the logic of a 2007 4.25% and a 2008 4.5% pay increase for our police and firefighters. Now don't get me wrong, I don't know if you can really pay such individuals too much for the jobs they do, but in these difficult financial times?

The article's main point is Council President Rob Ludeman's proposal to have employees incur a payroll deduction of $25 each pay period to help pay for their insurance. He says that employees have "the Cadillac of benefits." And with taxpayers who foot the bill rarely enjoying the same level of benefits, especially in today's marketplace, he's right.

But the idea of a medical payroll deduction could be dead on arrival with the unions.

"Don Czerniak, president of the 870-member American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 7 union, rejected Mr. Ludeman's suggestion.

"My opinion is a flat-out no. I am not taking that to my members. I have helped in the past. As a thank-you for doing something, my members have suffered layoffs," he said."

I'm certain the Local 7 employees have tried to help in the past by making concessions, but my fear is that they would rather maintain a high level of wages and benefits for SOME of their members than keep ALL of them employed.

Beginning the discussions, however, would be good. But there's a twist. In exchange for the mayor beginning discussions with the unions to make this possible, Ludeman is willing to support a $4 trash fee, down $2 from the mayor's original proposal.

My preference would be that no 'revenue enhancements' (meaning taxes) would be up for discussion until every last unnecessary expense was eliminated. And if the four Republicans on council teamed up with Democrats Frank Szollosi (who's correctly said repeatedly that Toledoans are taxed too much), Michael Ashford (who says the 2007 budget contains 'pork') and Ellen Grachek (who has demonstrated a willingness to fund essential priorities first), perhaps we could actually have a budget in line with our ability to pay.